NO. 4 RELIGION J-X SZECHUAN I'KOVINCE GRAHAM 2/ 



back as the Han Dynasty. A number of large cases of these rehcs are 

 in the Field Museum in Chicago. 



Tn Szechuan Province are thousands of caves that were chiseled 

 out of the soft red-sandstone many centuries ago. Perhajis most of 

 them are around Kiating and Chengtu, and all of them seem to be 

 near rivers and streams. There are fewer around Suifu, possibly due 

 to the facts that the sandstone is much harder and the Chinese secured 

 possession of Suifu at a later date than Chengtu and Kiating. The 

 larger of these caves are nearly a hundred feet deep and contain many 

 relics. The most extensive collections that have been made are in 

 the British Museum and in the Museum of the \\^est China Union 

 University. Many Chinese and foreigners assert that these caves were 

 the homes of the aborigines who lived in these districts before the 

 arrival of the Chinese. Rev. Thomas Torrance, F. R. G. S., was one 

 of the first to assert that they were burial tombs of wealthy Chinese 

 who probably lived from the Ts'in Dynasty V>. C. to the time of the 

 Three Kingdoms. Mr. Torrance has spent years in the study of these 

 caves and their contents, and the collections in the British Aluscum and 

 in the Museum of the West China I'nion University were made almost 

 entirely by him. The following quotation is from a letter received 

 from Mr. Torrance, written at Kuanshien, Szechuan, China. July 12. 

 1925: 



Tlic cave tombs are found all the way from the Hupeh-.Szechuan border 

 westwards as far as Lifan. Ninety-nine per cent of them are in low altitudes. 

 Their age is from the end of the Ts'in Dynasty B. C. to the time of the Three 

 Kingdoms. The people were in the Pa, Shuh (Szechuan), and Chinese territories. 

 My own opinion is that the people were Shuh-Chinese or Pa-Chinese, mixed 

 blood. There are only a few inscriptions in seal and common Chinese character. 

 There is no evidence at all that they were originally for anything else tlian tombs. 

 Later they were used for different purposes, that is, some of them, notably near 

 Kiating. The goods found in these caves correspond closely to goods found in 

 tomb mounds of the same date and in underground graves all over China, that is, 

 China north of the Yangtse. The carvings are distinctly of Han type and are 

 all in close correspondence. The carvings often follow the appearance of Han 

 houses, showing they were built of logs. 



\^olume I of the Su])]ilementary Papers of the Royal Geographical 

 Society, published in 1886. contains an article entitled "A Journey Of 

 Exploration in Western Ssu-ch'uan," by F. Colborne Baber, Chinese 

 Secretary of Legation, Peking. This article tells of a visit to West 

 China in 1877, when a number of caves between Kiating and Suifu 

 were inspected. ]\Ir. Baber found what he decided were cisterns inside 

 the caves, and so concluded that the caves were dwelling-places.' 



' Supplementary Papers. Royal Geograpliieal Society, 1886, \'ol. T, pji. 131-2. 



